Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused his political rivals of plotting to rig
this summer’s presidential election in an extraordinary attack that
threatens open conflict within the regime in the weeks before polling day.

With less than four months remaining of his turbulent eight-year presidency,
Mr Ahmadinejad appears determined to depart Iran’s political stage in the
same acrimonious fashion as he has commanded it since 2005.

In an incendiary speech to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the
President accused a string of regime officials of corruption and then took
aim at Iran’s Supreme Leader himself, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.